I was unconsious 20 minutes ago, but I'm ok now..

[glass]

This is called a death spiral (where the more damage you take the less effective you become) and has it's place in gritty or realistic games.

Gritty, yes. Realistic, not remotely!


glass.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Do you have a problem with adventurers carrying around fourty or fifty healing potions?

Not if they have the cash and encumberence to pull it off. They better be packaged properly too as a fall could cause problems.

 

[Mort]

Gritty, yes. Realistic, not remotely!


glass.

Depends on how you do it. But I'll certainly agree that most death spirals are not even close to realistic (most real life fights are fine ->fine->mostly fine->down or dead). My main point was simply that I hate death spirals because they really suck for the players.

 

[Nytmare]

Not if they have the cash and encumberence to pull it off. They better be packaged properly too as a fall could cause problems.

It wasn't a question of whether or not carrying them is a problem, it's why someone would find a problem with healing surges because they're almost exactly like those healing packs they always have in those gosh-durned video games when we've had something that is exactly like healing packs in D&D since forever.

My guess is that healing potions are ok because they're in bottles.

[EDIT] I'm pretty sure that D&D stole healing packs from Cranston Manor.

 

[Delta]

It wasn't a question of whether or not carrying them is a problem, it's why someone would find a problem with healing surges because they're almost exactly like those healing packs they always have in those gosh-durned video games when we've had something that is exactly like healing packs in D&D since forever.

My guess is that healing potions are ok because they're in bottles.

[EDIT] I'm pretty sure that D&D stole healing packs from Cranston Manor.

I do have a problem with them. My 3E house rules have pretty strict limits on the number of magic items anyone can carry, or else they start getting corrupted & cursed (I had good reactions from my players on this). So 4E is moving in the opposite direction from what I want.

Are you joking about Cranston Manor? It came out 7 years after OD&D.

 

[Nytmare]

I'll try again. The claim was that:

Healing surges are stolen from video games.
(Healing surges in D&D = Healing Pack in Video Game)

I assert that healing packs are actually the same as healing potions.
(Healing packs in Video Game = Healing Potions in D&D)

I also assert that healing potions have been in D&D since before I started playing Pong.
(Healing potions in D&D = ~1980)

Therefore: Healing surges are not stolen from video games.
(D&D != Video Game)

Q.E.D.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I do have a problem with them. My 3E house rules have pretty strict limits on the number of magic items anyone can carry, or else they start getting corrupted & cursed (I had good reactions from my players on this). So 4E is moving in the opposite direction from what I want.

Does it?
Your player certainly won't feel the need to carry dozens of healing potions with them. And with removal of "wealth by level", you even can ensure that they only have a few amount of items without risking to "break" the game. Hell, you can even use the magic item guidelines to remove magical +X items from the game, and thus any "inbuilt" need of the system to use magical items. And if that's still not enough, your corruption & cursing rules can go in again!

 

[hong]

I'll try again. The claim was that:

Healing surges are stolen from video games.
(Healing surges in D&D = Healing Pack in Video Game)

I assert that healing packs are actually the same as healing potions.
(Healing packs in Video Game = Healing Potions in D&D)

I also assert that healing potions have been in D&D since before I started playing Pong.
(Healing potions in D&D = ~1980)

Therefore: Healing surges are not stolen from video games.
(D&D != Video Game)

Q.E.D.

Heh. It's always fun to play "spot the healing potion" in a videogame. Every game has them, whether or not it's a fantasy game, and whether or not potions actually exist.

 

[Campbell]

I'm not entirely sure where people are getting the idea that healing surges are being introduced to the game primarily as a means to decrease lethality. From where I'm standing it looks like the intent behind healing surges is to

• Reduce medic dependency.
• Ensure that party staying power is not thrown out of whack when a party has multiple medics.
• Filter healing to the party members who will usually need it the most and ensure that rogues and wizards cannot rely on the party medic to mitigate the consequences of poor play to the degree that they previously could.

If they simply wanted to decrease the level of lethality in the game they could have simply made party medics better medics.

 

[Mort]

I'm not entirely sure where people are getting the idea that healing surges are being introduced to the game primarily as a means to decrease lethality. From where I'm standing it looks like the intent behind healing surges is to

• Reduce medic dependency.
• Ensure that party staying power is not thrown out of whack when a party has multiple medics.
• Filter healing to the party members who will usually need it the most and ensure that rogues and wizards cannot rely on the party medic to mitigate the consequences of poor play to the degree that they previously could.

If they simply wanted to decrease the level of lethality in the game they could have simply made party medics better medics.

This is spot on.

The 4e mechanics (through healing surges etc.) finaly strip the necessity of a cleric from the standard D&D party.